


Things Unsaid

by crm16



Series: Talking around the issue [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen, Robb's present in memory only
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-21 00:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13729479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crm16/pseuds/crm16
Summary: Robb Stark lives on in the memories of the two who knew him best.OrAs a way to deal with their ever deteriorating lives Jon and Theon begin to speak to Robb in their minds.





	Things Unsaid

It is in between the time that he stops being Reek and the time when he becomes Theon again that he begins to talk to Robb in his head. It gives him something to focus on when the confusion over his identity (he knows his name, he knows his name, he does, he does…. he doesn’t) and the terror that someone, that Ramsay, would notice drag him further from the bits of sanity he has managed to grab hold of. Robb reminds him who he was/is/could be, and talking to him, keeps him from facing the suffocating grief of Robb’s death, if Theon is talking to him, he can’t truly be gone. Not entirely. 

He apologizes mostly, on the good days when he feels more like Theon then Reek, though they do not happen often. _Sorry, sorry, sorry. _He’s sorry he betrayed him. He’s sorry he was not there when Robb died. He’s sorry that he is too much a coward to save Sansa. He’s always sorry. He doesn’t know how Robb would respond, with his head the jumbled mess that it is, he can barely keep his own thoughts straight, much less someone else’s.__

____

On the days that he’s Reek, he doesn’t think of Robb much at all, if he can help it. Robb was a man that someone else knew (a fact that gets harder and harder to convince himself of), and why would Reek think of someone he never knew?

____

…

____

Jon begins talking to Robb in his head when he is brought back to life. He wasn’t entirely truthful when he told the red woman that there had been nothing when he’s been dead. He hadn’t seen anything, not that he remembers at least, but when he thinks back to it, there is a sense of something good, and the echo of a familiar laugh. Jon doesn’t know if it was Robb or not, he tries not to think of it, in all honesty. His feelings on the whole event are somewhat conflicted. There had been anger at first, betrayal, as he lay bleeding in the snow. Fear as well. But, as the world faded out around him, there came a sense of relief. He had been free of it, the awful responsibility of leadership. The world rested on someone else’s shoulders now, it was no longer his duty to protect them from what lay beyond the wall. Then a brief feeling of warmth, of calm, so fleeting, yet pronounced in his mind. And then he was gasping awake on a freezing table, in a room in Castle Black, and the world was his responsibility again. 

____

Jon thinks perhaps the feeling was a trick of the mind, something to comfort himself when he is pulled back into his role as leader. But he talks to Robb all the same. I don’t want this Robb, I wish they had left me dead, I don’t know what I’m doing. He thinks, sitting quietly in his rooms. He has been alive for just over a day. The traitors are dead. Jon is so tired. He thinks Robb would try to reassure him, were he here. _‘No one does, just keep moving, it’ll be okay.’ _It doesn’t sound quite like Robb, he’ll admit. It has been so long since he spoke to him, Jon can’t quite get the words right.__

______ _ _

…

______ _ _

It is when he and Sansa are dragging themselves through the snow, the fear of capture, and the seeming futility of their escape attempt, weighing heavily on his shoulders that he thinks he knows what Robb would say to him. We will not make it, he’ll capture us again, and what he does to us will make everything before seem gentle, Theon thinks desperately, I’m sorry Robb I tried. And he knows, he knows Robb would tell him _‘Don’t think about that, just keep moving, don’t give up. You can’t give up.’ _He wants to laugh for a moment, then he wants to cry. He wishes so much that Robb were here with him, it would almost be bearable, this oppressive terror, if only Robb were here. But he isn’t. So, Theon tightens his grip on Sansa’s hand, and moves faster.__

________ _ _ _ _

…

________ _ _ _ _

Jon doesn’t think he’s ever been so elated in his life. Sansa’s here. He had thought he’d never see her, or any of his siblings, again. And all the dislike that had plagued them through their childhood had melted away the instant he saw her, standing in Castle Black’s yard. Cold, exhausted, and alive. It repeats itself in his head over and over, she here and she’s okay, he isn’t alone anymore, his sister is safe. When he goes to bed that night, the dizzying relief begins to wear off, and leaves an aching sadness in him. A sadness for the siblings he has yet to find, Arya, Bran, little Rickon. And the one he will never see again, Robb. _I miss you, _he thinks, trying to find his earlier happiness, _I’m happy she’s here but I miss you. _He thinks Robb would tell him to stop sulking and focus on finding the rest of them. It makes him feel a little better.____

___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

….

___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Theon stands on the deck of his sister’s ship, as they sail away from Westeros. _Well that could have gone better, couldn’t it, Robb? _He thinks sardonically, leaning against a railing. As much as he had hoped that Yara would be successful at the King’s Moot, the prospect of being far far from Westeros and all that has happened there is a relieving one. He feels more like himself than he has in a long while. He is safer here on this ship, than he has been in years, he and Yara have a plan, and Sansa is almost certainly safe at the Wall with Jon Snow. _Do you think this meeting with the dragon queen will go well? _He asks. But can’t think of a response for the life of him, so he thinks of something else, the only benefit of talking to someone in his head. _I hope whatever comes next for me, I’ll be able to make up for some of what I’ve done in the past. _He doesn’t know what Robb would say to that either, though he knows what he’d like him to say. Theon sighs, and goes below deck.______

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

…

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jon sits in the hall of Winterfell, the battle is won, Ramsay is dead, and so is Rickon. He had been so so close to saving him. To reuniting another piece of his scattered, broken family. All around him his bannermen hail him as king in the north. Jon feels nothing but dread as he looks at them all, the hall ringing with their chant. _Is this how you felt Robb? When they named you king? _He thinks. He imagines he knows the answer to that one, they were alike in that respect. And like Robb, he knows he must accept. A bigger war is coming, and like it or not, he must prepare them. _Gods help me Robb, what am I doing?___

_________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

…

_________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The embers have faded as the water swallows the burning ships. Theon floats, clinging to a piece of wood, in the freezing water. His thoughts are slowly beginning to settle, and as he returns to himself so does his shame. He left her. He left her. He was supposed to protect her, and he left her with Euron. Robb’s voice comes to him, unbidden, (he has gotten into the habit of thinking for both of them lately) _‘If you had tried to save her he’d have killed you both’ _. Logically, Theon knows that it’s true, but all he can think is that he abandoned her like he abandoned Robb, and hers will be another added to the long list of deaths that have been his fault. _I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry _. He thinks, it repeats and repeats in his mind until he begins to mutter it out loud, between his ruined, chattering teeth, as he continues to drift.____

____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

…

____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jon has been at Dragonstone for what feels like forever, Daenerys has been gone a few days now. (Theon returns to Dragonstone on the ship that hauled him from the water.) He had seen the ship from where he stood on the steps with Davos. (He had been dragging the small rowboat through the waves with the rest of the crew.) Jon, and the others still at the castle are standing on the beach when he sees…. (Theon stops in his tracks, just out of the water when he sees….) …Theon Greyjoy. (…Jon Snow.) 

____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

They both stare for a long moment, before they think, near simultaneously , _Oh gods, Robb, how can, _he _be here _?____

____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I've just got a lot of feelings about these sad boys.


End file.
